Costa Rica
Costa Rica is located in central America, and is able to licence online casinos as legitimate commercial enterprises. Costa Rica does not allow the setting up of bricks-and-mortar casinos within its boundaries. Fortunately, this does not apply to iGaming companies who wish to operate in the country.
There are in excess of 40 online casinos that are permitted to operate by officials in Costa Rica.
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Licensing in Costa Rica
Any online casino providers who are hoping to obtain a licence to operate within Costa Rica should know that this is a country that does not recognise online gaming as a specific entity within the law. Instead, providers wishing to set up online casinos or sports betting sites are treated as general commercial operations. As long as these providers are offering their services to customers outside of the country, they are permitted to continue on Costa Rican soil.
Obtaining a licence
In order to get a licence for an online casino in Costa Rica, operators need to give lots of detailed information about themselves and their business. You can do this by getting a form from the Costa Rican Tax Authority, and by getting a few other government stamps of approval. Once all the necessary forms have been completed, the online casino is permitted to operate within Costa Rica.
Player safety considerations
Because Costa Rican authorities do not provide licences that are specific to online casinos, there are greater considerations to made regarding player safety. As the law does not recognise this kind of business as an online wagering facility, there aren’t the usual specific rules and regulations. When these are applied within other jurisdictions, they offer some support to the player that helps to protect them from unfair practices.
When online casinos register to operate within the country of Costa Rica, they are supplied with a set of guidelines. These guidelines should be met, but there is no legal requirement for providers to do so. Unfortunately, this can make online casino operators vulnerable as well as those who choose to play at their sites.
Online casinos within other areas that are subject to robust licensing requirements must prove that there are random elements to their games. The purpose of this is to ensure that all players get a fair game, and that everyone has a similarly random chance of winning prizes and jackpots. Unfortunately, this does not occur with Costa Rican online casinos, and it is also the case that they do not need to prove anything to the government on any kind of a regular basis.
Warning to players
The result is that online casinos in Costa Rica are not afforded the same robust protection and regulation that providers and customers expect and demand in other parts of the world. Because of this lack of government support of online casinos, it is wise for potential players to tread carefully if they are considering becoming a member of an organisation that is operating from within Costa Rica.
If things go wrong, it will be difficult to achieve any redress, so iGamers should proceed with caution.